JCB has confirmed that fast charging will be available for the vehicle at launch at the end of this year, and it will have an electric motor and three advanced lithium-ion battery packs, to deliver a full energy capacity of 15kWh.

The 2.1-ton mini excavator can be charged using a standard 230V domestic electricity supply and once fully charged is capable of digging at the same speed and power as a diesel equivalent.

JCB chairman Lord Bamford said, “JCB has been at the forefront of developing innovative, low-emission diesel powered construction equipment for decades. In fact, thanks to our clean diesel technology, typical JCB machines will be pretty close to zero emissions by next year.

“However with urbanization, machines are operating more closely to people as well as digging underground, indoors, near hospitals and in food production environments. As a result, there is a new zero-emissions sector emerging and it’s emerging very quickly. It’s for this reason we have put ourselves at the forefront of alternative power technologies and developed the first ever electric JCB digger.”

The vehicle was developed at the company’s Staffordshire headquarters in the UK and will be the quietest on the company’s line-up, allowing operators to work outside of traditional working hours with minimal disturbance to those in the vicinity.

The launch of the vehicle was last week and iVT was there, read about it here

About Author

James joined the Industrial Vehicle Technology International team in 2017. Previously he was Assistant Editor on an engineering title for several years and has worked for various other trade magazines before that. James is happily married and has a young daughter who keeps him busy.

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The Fastbrick Robotics’ (FBR) Hadrian X robot bricklayer recently achieved its target, set three years ago, of building a house in just three days. But which construction vehicle OEM bought a major share in FBR in June 2017?